Welcome to my blog for reviewing the best Mexican restaurants and food in Orange County, CA. I intend to cover as many as I can . . . and all sorts and price ranges: "From taco trucks to fine dining . . . and everything inbetween." Newer entries tend to focus on photos more than words. Number of restaurants covered so far: 268+. See The List

Here's some photos of the new Avila's Corona del Mar location, just across and down PCH from their prior location. They also have a little bit of a Mexican market in the front:

These are photos of their old Corona del Mar location:

I stopped at Avila's last week when I was out running errands and got some lunch. I'd never been to this location before so, hey, new material for the blog. Little did I know I would be back again the very next day but that's what happens when you absentmindedly leave your debit card behind.

Of course the meal started out with the requisite complementary chips and salsa, but what made Avila's salsa unique was the very distinct green onion component. Some of the green onion slices in it were like manhole covers.

On my first visit I ordered their Taco Tuesday special, the filet mignon tacos with rice and beans. Trust me, there's filet mignon in there:

Bits of the filet mignon were a little on the tough side, but with those out of the way and stuffed with some rice and lettuce and the salsa these were some fine tacos.

My meal the next day was even better, a chile relleno/pork tamale combo plate. The pork tamale had veritably exploded and was overflowing with nice cubed chunks of carnitas. The chile relleno was light and fluffy and I actually ate more of the chile pepper than I normally do.

And there's nothing wrong with showing a little American pride while retaining your heritage:

I wanted to try the strawberry-filled churros I saw on the menu but each time I was brought the check without being asked if I wanted dessert. I didn't fight it because I probably don't need dessert with every lunch (or maybe any lunch for that matter). I still want to try those churros sometime though.

2 comments:

I love comments like this. If I work for the Register and you work for The Register too then maybe you can bring me all the paychecks I never get for the work you say I do for them. And if I worked for the Register my blog would be on their site, but it's not.

But if you mean that you work for Avila's then why are you getting mad when I say I like your restaurant? I said I liked the food and wanted to try other things there.

And if you don't care what kind of Mexican food I like then why are you reading my blog? And if nobody cares then why are 250-300 other people a day reading my blog?